50 Replies
What's the context in which you're wearing them? Brogue-ing technically decreases the formality but i suspect that only matters in extremely conservative environments
After that it comes down to preference
Yep, context here is key. These shoes you picked might be on the lighter side of brown to the point where they are not super versatile.
Beyond that, they're basically the same shoe with different detailing, yes? Cap toe, perforated toe, medallion toe. Missing from that would be wing tip (shortwing) on the even-more-brogued side of things. Plainer than captoe would be plain toe and wholecut (fairly rare.) Captoe is your standard everyday dress shoe, if you pick it in a darker brown or burgundy, or of course black for a higher level of formality.
Don't need extreme formal
There is a wholecut option too
For reference, this is the website:
https://thedapperman.in/collections/shoes?_fsPage=3
The Dapper Man
All Shoes
Pellé Santino - 100% Handcrafted, Premium Luxury Products, Finest Quality Material, Fairly Priced Shoes. Never compromise again!
Don't get oxfords if you don't need them particularly formal. The usual suggestion is to only wear oxfords with a suit.
If you don't wear a suit often then get derbies instead imo
How about chelsea boots?
I like chelseas, and they're pretty versatile and casual (though in Australia in particular it's common to wear them with suits). Definitely a lot easier to wear than oxfords if you're not wearing suits all the time. RM Williams and Loake (1880 line) are good ones. If you're looking at the ones on that website, I don't think anybody here will be able to vouch for them, but feel free to try them and let us know how they turn out, if that's the price point that works for you.
It's just that the idea of brown Chelsea boots with navy dress pants seems a bit alien
I've only seen brown Chelseas worn with jeans
Come to aus, you'll see it everywhere :) but if you feel that way then I'd say go with some derbies
Like this?
The alternative is croc leather which looks way too loud
Maybe? Depends what you like. I'm not personally a fan of aggressive brogueing, or very pebbled leather.
This brand's pricing also seems a bit hard to believe - hand stitched GYW at under 100$? I mean yeah some celebrities have endorsed it but still
Indian labour or not
Yeah seems suspect tbh. At the very least the leather must be from some very obscure tanneries
Pricing doesn't seem too remote to me, Loake sell made in India GYW shoes in the UK at prices down to about £100.
We've gone from oxfords to chelsea boots? OP what do you actually want to do with these shoes?
"Don't need extreme formal" is vague
"Extreme formal" could mean "white tie" or "shoes to wear to church" to different people
Don't need anything more formal than what can be worn at a wedding
And it's more about the colour than the actual type of shoes
What the right colour is will depend on what colour clothes you are wearing
A darker brown is probably the most versatile
Royal blue and navy blue
Then yeah, a dark brown will look great
A shade like this maybe
Yeah, depending on profit margins that’s not too crazy. The factory that makes TAFT starts at like 60 euro for a pair
And that’s in Spain
Definitely do not get tan then, lol.
If you’re planning to wear them below suits as well, I’d suggest a blucher (my preference), or a derby. I’d echo that oxfords are conventionally only worn with suits, but there are certainly some very casual oxfords that can be worn dressed-down
Handcrafted?
All shoes are to one degree or another, all clothes too
What do you mean handcrafted?
Assembled by hand.
Broski.
Bro.
Am I doing my math here? This is like $75 USD for oxfords? You're asking if they're handmade?
They are handmade
Sold by a website that tries to block right-click, highlight, and puts all their html on one line to make it harder to inspect, and does a popup when your mouse exits the screen?
A number of celebrities do wear their shoes so
A number of celebrities do heroin.
Not bad quality one
Well, the heroin is good quality until suddenly it isn't, and they die from fentanyl overdose.
Either way, indian labour is really cheap.
You have GYW for even less. Unsure if handcrafted
I'm gonna level with you, broheem.
First. If you want the shoes, just BUY the shoes. Literally just buy them.
You don't have to justify to us that you think they're good. If you're convinced, put your money where your mouth is and pay for the shoes.
The absolute worst thing that can happen is you won't like them.
The question is about design, not the brand
I.e the colour
You can take ten photos and write up how much you like them or don't like them and post it to /r/goodyearwelt too
Well, first the question was about design, then about whether they're made by hand ...
There's a good reason I can't buy GYW from this brand though, it's a D last
Mine is 10EEE
So, okay, second, the design. The photos look like glamour shots of a shoe that may or may not be photoshopped to look better than in real life, or simply post-processed to appear true to life as a good photographer will do. Now, given that the photos may or may not represent reality, the photos look like normal shaped oxfords.
The burgundy "Adelaide" (blake stitched) oxfords look totally normal. I cannot tell you if they will actually look or feel normal in real life but the photos seem okay.
Want shoes like that? Great. They're pretty much the most common shape of a classic oxford.
Third. All leather dress shoes, as far as I know, have some amount of manual labor involved. However, the question for you should not be, is this item made by hand. That's a question that a rich, bored man asks, in order to assure himself that his high-dollar purchase is worthwhile, because he's already tried everything else in life and needs people to do stuff for him by hand.
Here's the simple fact. An artisan making shoes by hand will make the best shoes this world has seen. However, if you don't know what specific steps in shoe-making are better done by hand than machine - if you cannot explain why handmade is functionally better at each point - it's not worth worrying about unless you have an excess of money and ennui.
At a $75 price point, your goal is to have a good looking shoe that lasts as long as possible. No more, no less.
Do not worry about the wrong things, eg, heuristics for quality that menswear bloggers write about online.
So, given all of this advice. Do you have specific questions and/or are you seeking direct, actionable advice on what to do? And if so, within what budget are you trying to work?
None of those shoes look great imo. If you’re really pushing for made in India, here is a company making stuff that looks pretty great. https://bridlen.com
Bridlen
Goodyear-Welted Leather Shoes
High quality, Goodyear-welted shoes designed in Japan, made in India.
My budget is about 100$ at this point
If I was spending that much, I'd probably go for a better brand, given you could score AE and meermin
Define “better.”
For a $100 budget your best bet is buying something secondhand not shopping new
I'd definitely do that if I was still in NYC. In India, GYW and Blake stitched are pretty rare
How good is loake?
If you’re convinced about the brand (I can’t see how), you should just buy based on the recommendations above
But here’s why you shouldn’t buy this brand.
100% handcrafted is a meaningless term. They can all basically be glued together and it would still be handcrafted.
If celebrity endorsements are important to you, I don’t know what to tell you, but they’re worthless and if you’ve seen celebrities wear them, then they wear it once or a few times. Really if you fall for celebrity endorsements, I can’t help you.
There’s a lot of nothing copyright in that website. Nothing about the sourcing of the leather. Some meaningless terms about the leather in general.
Sure labor is cheap in India, but quality is also suspect for the vast majority of products (I’m still Indian and travel back often enough). With vague terms like in their website, they’re mostly just marketing.
Loake is fine, but if you won’t spend for even low end Bridlen, you’re not in the budget range for loake
Handcrafted also means functionally nothing, and isn’t worth trying to differentiate at such a low price tier.
Honestly, in that budget range, just buy whatever looks the best and isn’t falling apart when new. Trying to pursue higher quality is a fools errand.
Finding good shoes in india is painful.
And I wouldn't say it's been endorsed, because it hasn't. It's just been worn. Not much advertisement. I don't see many reviews outside the website. Or on reddit.
This is the case with most brands in india. A lot of marketing fluff - The pant project for example, among other insta marketed stuff
That doesn't mean some of these aren't good products.
I guess Indian fashion culture hasn't moved beyond fast fashion
First of all don't buy instagram brands
Second of all, as pointed out 'handcrafted/handmade' is a functionally meaningless term in the context of shoes